What Can I Use Instead Of Almonds In The Clementine Cake?

Our answer

Nigella's Clementine Cake (from HOW TO EAT) is made with whole clementines that have been cooked until soft. The clemetines are then puréed and combined with sugar, eggs and ground almonds (almond meal) to make the cake batter.

Ground almonds are preferable as they have a fairly neutral flavour that won't clash with the clementines. If you are only allergic to almonds then ground hazelnuts or cashew nuts would be the next best alternatives. We would avoid walnuts and pecans as they have a stronger flavour. If you are allergic to all tree nuts then unfortunately we can't recommend a non-nut alternative as the oils in the nuts are needed to give the cake moisture and replacing them with flour or ground rice will mean that the cake becomes dry and very crumbly. Coconuts are botanically different to tree nuts, so if you can eat coconut you may like to try Nigella's Lemon Tendercake and use clementines instead of the lemons.